Great Customer Service Comes in All Shapes and Sizes

As I was paying my bill at a small business recently (we’ll leave the business unnamed to protect the innocent), I was momentarily surprised when I came to the counter. The young employee behind it could barely see over it.

She was probably 14 (the minimum age for summer-job retail work) and couldn’t have been much over 4 feet tall.

Exceptional customer service can be more a function of attitude than age.

Source: Tima Miroschnichenko / Pexels

But any temporary uncertainty I may have had evaporated the moment she opened her mouth and began confidently addressing me.

"You’re here to pay?” she said, “well, let’s get you taken care of.”

She navigated the electronic payment terminal deftly, processed my payment efficiently, and then asked (which her predecessors in the role often forgot to do): “Would you like to make another appointment?”

We agreed on a future date and time. “Thank you for your business,” she said courteously, “we’ll look forward to seeing you again soon.”

I know the proprietor of the business, having frequented it regularly for several years now. She knows I’m interested in management, and at times we’ve chatted about the challenges of small business ownership.

As I was walking out, I happened to see her. “Well,” I said, pausing halfway out the door, “I just received some excellent service from your very capable new employee.”

She chuckled, nodded, and said to me quietly, “If I could clone her, I would.”

Elements of Excellence

This interaction made me think about the elements of excellent service—a function that in one form or another is vital to almost all businesses. What is it that makes some people unusually good at it?

I know there are plenty of ways to skin this cat; you could probably come up with 50 reasonably important service attributes. So, after a career in business, the following are my personal top three.

Listening is foundational. You have to be competent in a role, of course, to know the basics of what’s involved, and then actively listen to assess what a customer needs. Or to understand what they’re upset about, or what their issues might be. The ability to listen carefully and take in information without judgment is a key component of any service role.

Calmness is critical. Providing good service involves being present in the moment and focusing without getting flustered. Being able to converse without being defensive. Having sometimes been in this role myself (as head of advertising, I was frequently working with and providing service to the company’s top sales representatives), I know it’s easier said than done to remain calm when someone is verbally “attacking” you. Often the simple act of listening respectfully when a person is venting and then responding non-defensively can go a long way toward resolving a situation.

Last but definitely not least is empathy. My own impression is that individuals who succeed in a service role genuinely like people, enjoy interacting with them, and want to help solve their problems. Being able to “put yourself in someone else’s shoes” and understand how they might be feeling is an important piece of the service puzzle. How would you like to be treated if you were in their position?

There are more valuable service qualities for sure; this list is personal and by no means exhaustive. These are just three boxes to check. It felt like my young friend who inspired this small story checked all of them.